Mansfield originally planned to retire from Apple in 2012, but the company announced he'd stay on a few months later. In 2013, he was moved to a role in Apple's "special projects" team and removed from the company's executive leadership team. The special projects team developed the Apple Watch.

Since then, Mansfield has been relatively hidden from the public view, while other Apple execs took the spotlight at company events. (Mansfield used to always appear in those promotional videos for new products.)

Very little is known about Apple's car project beyond the fact that the company is shooting to start selling it by 2021.